[Jayyous, West Bank] Early Sunday morning, the Israeli army placed nine metal stakes in the road leading to the south gate in the “Separation Wall” and strung rows of razor wire around these stakes, creating a barrier that will prevent access for the Abu Amar family and farmers from Jayyous who pass through the gate daily.

Zarifi, the mother of the Abu Amar family, has spent the past two days in the village due to being denied access to her home by Israeli soldiers. This morning, the military created a passage in the razor wire coils for Zarifi to return to her home a half a kilometer beyond the gate to meet her children and then pass back through the gate and new wire barrier.

The military told the family and International Solidarity Movement volunteers present that the south gate would now be closed indefinitely to anyone other than the Abu Amar family. The soldiers said that the 20 farmers with 700 dunams of land isolated beyond the south gate must now access their land through the west gate, the second and only other gate in Jayyous.

The Abu Amar family is one that has already been completely cut off from the village of Jayyous by the Wall. This one family must pass through the gate daily to travel between the village and their isolated home to get to school, to access the village to purchase food and to receive water. Since August there have been 3 tank-loads of water passed through the Wall to the Abu Amar family, but this will no longer be possible with the new barriers erected today.

Please take action and let the Israeli authorities know that this violation of basic human rights cannot stand and demand they grant access for the family of Abu Amar and the farmers of Jayyous.

Israeli District Command Office

Phone: +972 97 922 234 / +972 97 759 219

Israeli Ministry of Defense

Email:  sar@mod.gov.il or  pniot@mod.gov.il

Fax: +972 3 696 27 57 / +972 3 691 69 40 / +972 3 691 79 15

For more information contact:

Tracie (English): +972 65 203 543

Henry (English): +972 67 343 298

Allam (Arabic): +972 66 391 832

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